Perish the thought of converting to MP3... Deadheads commit to purity!
At least in regard to the drugs... but really, I think its unlikely you'll find someone to convert to MP3!
Must... have... perfect... sound..., and perfect continuity...
I love them for the discipline necessary to be so committed! And thankfully they were. Here we are 50 years later and we have instant access to these gems... Perhaps some of us were hoping for flying cars, but this is better by far!

Hello out there!

Would someone please convert this show to mp3 so it can be downloaded ? I was born on this day and would love to be able to download/save it to my car's HDD. Thanks in advance!

Nice show, a bit shakey.

I almost stopped listening after Bertha, but I wanted to hear the in-between stuff...I don't know when it happened, but the warbling went away (maybe I just got used to it?), and I was left with a string of pretty well played tunes. Check out Jerry's background vocals in Me & Bobbie McGee.

If this is a "cut your losses and live to play another show" show, that's fine with me. No song stretches out, but the intensity is there! Worth checking out the "banter" for your average 1971 "family" concert atmosphere excerpt! I love this transitional period that features early versions of all-time classic tunes...um, er,...without Donna...but really just cuz they r new.........not because she ruins most any "Playin' from '72 on with one wail..but I digress, goood Playin' here! SBD ok.B+C+

First, some funny background: This was my third show. Had graduated high school the previous June and was in my first apartment. Went to the show with my trippin' buddy Leigh. She and I knew what to expect, and were "clean" with hours of fun assured before the concert. You'd see less cops entering an atomic bomb plant than an Atlanta Dead show in 1971!
The music seems a bit on the "snappy" side now, but at the time it seemed perfectly ok...;)
The law enforcement authorities tried to cause a riot at the beginning of the show, and got mad when that failed. They forced everyone in the front to remain seated - no dancing. Georgia you know - Baptists hate dancing. Hating-OK, Dancing-major sin. The "Fire Marshall" threatening to turn off the power was a threat repeated at almost every show in 70's Atlanta. Grand Funk had played a couple weeks before (did not go, not my thing) and "a riot" ensued with "drug crazed hippies", according to the newspapers. The cops expected the Grateful Dead to be FAR, FAR worse. They expected mindwarping, earsplitting, soul crushing sonic insanity - but all they got was the GD! It was hilarious. Who was this country band dressed as hippies??? They posted a cop on the floor at each corner of the stage and when they saw a cigarette being passed, the stage cop would point and several cops would come up from the back, crawl over seated people, and grab and club the "dope smokers", dragging them away. After about three busts EVERYONE IN THE PLACE LIT UP - smoking was legal and health-Nazis were not yet in control of everyone's personal lives. The police could not patrol so many glowing butts. After a while they just gave up. During Tennessee Jed the cop on stage right started tapping his foot and clearly getting into the music. His boss ran up and warned him to "parade rest". He was relieved for further foot tapping during Mexicali, and replaced by his stern, morbidly obese boss. His boss was not into music of any kind...
Hearing this recording is like a time warp. The NO PIGS chant included me. Those were the days. Nowadays you would be taped and all your relatives and associates phones tapped before being questioned by HOMELAND Security. And to think I spent 10 years fighting Russians for this... But I digress.
The sound was not that great at the show. The old Auditorium was a big concrete box with an echo impossible to compensate. It was built for circuses and wrasslen, not music. Considering the source, and age of the obviously poorly stored and badly damaged master SBD tape the results here are nothing short of miraculous.
That said, the quality is oddly excellent on a few of the songs (Uncle,Jack Straw, PITB), but this is offset by the dropouts and splices in Truckin, etc. The cutouts at the end and beginning of songs show just how beat the master tape was when it was finally introduced to some digital technology. The result of the digital makeover is "too clever by half" in more than a few places, underscoring and highlighting the flaws and turning sonic fade into sonic distortion at a constant level - but very nicely done.
IOW, this is great to listen to for reminisce, but my ears are still ringing from the digital "sharpening" of the high end, but the bass has been nicely "messaged" - probably sounds much better than the original tape. The long going bass waves retain more fidelity on old, dying analogue audio masters. The high just get muddy and when the digital tools are applied to "fix" it you get what we have here. This is not criticism, just observation. Were I given the master to process I would likely make most of the same choices and accept most of the same tradeoffs. A high-end rig with DTS and Dolby will probably sweeten the sound considerably, especially if you have some old, vintage speakers - but I played it on my DAW with it's unforgiving digital "voice". Ouch!
Bottom line, it's worth a listen and three or four of the cuts are wonderful examples of the younger, leaner, snappier GD back when meth was almost over-the-counter and great acid was still $2 a hit. Before the pace started to get that slow, almost hypnotic pace of the late 70's and early 80's (that I love so much) most Dead shows were tight and snappy like this one. The pitch is up by a degree or two, but not by much. Try slowing it down and you'll quickly see what I mean.
But damage is damage and a damaged master from a bad venue just can't sound real sweet. Being cut to ribbons is really the annoying part. Wish it wasn't so, but a three is as generous as I can get on this one...

Sound quality is C+/B-

This doesnt even come close to the following three performances. (88 pts)

Jerlouvis,

you're right - no arguments.

I was thinking Sam Cutler but for some 'stoopid' reason I typed Rock Scully.

Any chance of splitting the $64,000 ?

I couldn't say for sure but I think it would be Sam Cutler who is English and I believe was working as there manager around that time.Unless Rock Scully who is American developed an English accent,I dont think it's him.

Really rare gem from the archive. For $64,000: does anyone know who the British gentleman is during "Banter" telling people that the Fire Marshall is in charge of electricity? It sounds like a cross between Eric Idle and Mick Jagger --neither of whom, I'm guessing, were there. Also, funny quip by Bobby who says "We're gonna continue the festivities with a song about death & destruction" before Me & My Uncle.

Has the fastest 'Tennesee Jed' out there, an early 'Jack Straw' soloing theme & lot's of more interesting pieces. I've only listened through 'Truckin' but can't imagine how quick the encore is probably played. Yeah, things are sped up, and the songs chosen are fast ones anyways.

The sound does have a few problems, but overall - I would have givven my left nut for a recording like this back in the day when I was collecting these tapes. I lost everyone of them in a fire in '96 and I love this site - too bad for me I'm too late to dwonload the soundboard tapes.

It does seem like an abbreviated show due to the bad cop vibe - but this has enough good moments to make it worth while!

Haven't listened to this yet, but I was at the show itself, and it was one of the most unpleasant and disappointing ever. The band was annoyed at the Atlanta cops' overzealous behavior and did the bare minimum to get through the show. Maybe it sounds better than it felt!?

I was born on this day and have always wanted to hear what Jerry and boys were up to that night. I really like the Tenn Jed and its nice to hear some early Keith G. Although I catch some oddities in the mix, I would still LOVE to get a copy of this show. Three stars for the music and one for nostalga.

Either this has been cleaned up significantly since those earlier reviews or people are just too picky, because this sounds just fine to me. Everything's crystal-clear, the mix is good, and the performance is stellar. Also like the "Pigs off the stage!" commotion after the first song - sounds like a heavy scene. This is a great time capsule, opened up 35 years later and much appreciated.

There might be a good show in here, but the digi-garble overlays everything. The mix is odd anyway. Nice moment just before Me and Booby McGee when someone shouts out they want to hear some ROck and Roll. Garcia tells them the should listen to Grand Funk for rock and roll.

ruined...ruined by digi garbling----everything is almost perfect----about a mile from perfect really